Silvery B--ches

Poetry is a main component of the students' English curriculum. A popular poem discussed in our lessons of Asian literature is Silvery Beaches by Nu Yin. The first time I presented this lesson I had my students share any experiences they have had on the beach. Coming from Mt. Province many have not even seen the ocean, so I asked how they imagined it to be.

My jaw fell open when the first kid shouted out, "All bi*ches are dirty!"

Another argued, "No, all the bi*ches I've seen are beautiful."

My lesson in poetry quickly turned into a lesson on correctly pronouncing the word "beach."

This summer I got the opportunity to travel to the Visayas, the group of islands in the center of the Philippines. The trip was hot. It was humid. And it unfolded some of the most spectacular and stunning places I've ever seen. It's amazing how quickly everything can be forgotten starring out at the vastness of the sea. It was the perfect remedy for the stress building up around the end of school.

From Dumaguete to Siquijor to Bohol. I was on a mission to find the most beautiful beach. Why did I think it would be a challenge? Everywhere we went offered a different experience and unique atmosphere.

From Dumaguete we took a boat to Apo Island and snorkeled  This island is tiny but the people were super friendly. When I think of "Island Culture" I think of Apo. Sitting around sipping on beer or a coke and watching the fishermen bring in the nets while the kids snorkel in the shallow water. The electricity comes on for only a couple of hours in the evening lighting up the coast. 

Our boat that brought us from Dumaguete to Apo Island
and  later to Siquijor.

Apo Island

From Dumaguete our boat made the 3 hour bumpy ride to Squijorr, an island known for it's mysticism, herbal healing and sorcery. My host mom even warned me about vampires before I left. "Make sure you don't leave a strand of hair behind or they will make a voodoo of you!" 

I'm not sure where these myths and rumors began but Siquijor couldn't have been more opposite from a dark and scary place. Bordered by white sand beaches and palm trees the people seemed to be entirely happy and relaxed. The lazy roads were strewn with crushed coral, and when we made it into the mountains for the Herbal Healing Festival, we were actually disappointed that the "shamans" turned out to be more like Christian priests rubbing crucifixes around various body parts. We did see a few women selling some herbal lotions and teas, but whoa! Way out of our volunteer price range.

San Juan, Siquijor

Coastal road on Siquijor Island

Women selling natural remedies to cure all ailments.

After spending four glorious days on Siquijor we took a fairy to Bohol. Too cheap to pay for the fast boat, we took the budget 6 hour night trip. We had the option for Tourist Class (with AC) or regular (no AC). You can guess what we chose. 

Sweat drenching our clothes and our backs sticking to the vinyl covers of our tiny bunk beds, it was not the most comfortable of trips. At one point a volunteer said she felt like we were in the third class of the Titanic.

When we arrived in Bohol things brightened back up. The island of adventure is full of activities for tourists. I was able to find yet another amazing beach in Anda. The Bohol Bee Farm served amazing organic food and I ate meals there at lest three times. We also got to visit a tarsier sanctuary and see the little creatures that Bohol is famous for. Our trip concluded with a visit to a lodge hidden away in the jungle along the Luboc River. I even got to zip line on the longest and highest zip line I've ever done, spanning the entire river gorge. 

Economy class.

Tarsier!

Anda, Bohol

Luboc River

Zip lining across the river (see above).

It may have only been for two weeks, but that vacation was just what I needed to rejuvenate my enthusiasm at site. Of course the pictures don't do it justice and I would recommend these places (especially Siquijor) to anyone looking for a relaxing spot to unwind. I would love to go back again but know that there are many other beautiful places to explore in this country first. 

SILVERY BEACH
(nu yin)

Once
For relations
I visited this place

Alone
On this silvery beach
Beside the cliffs
I walked in thought.
I gazed at the endless sea
And i pondered.

Gazing at the sapphire and green sea
I felt calm.
I did not tire of staring at the waves coming towards the beach
Like crumbling mountains
With terrific sound
Like wanting to devour and swallow,
Being alone, I felt scared
And took shelter from this tide and rough wind

Beyond the edge of cliff
While i was seeking shelter
I thought of the cliffs
And of our lives.

Though these dreadful waves
Could sometimes overleap,
They could not overwhelm cliffs.
"Similarly in one's existence
though violent minds
like rough winds
may be attacking you,
if one practices patience
one can have tranquility in one's heart."

When taking shelter behind a cliff This thought came to me  came to me

School's Out!

So many things have happened since my last post I had to go back and read my own blog to see where I left off!

Valentine's Day was followed by our school Prom. The kids worked really hard to put together a nice program and use what they could to decorate our community recreation hall. Girls drifted off early to go prepare for what they had been waiting months for. The boys ran off searching last minute for a clean shirt to wear. Some boys came over to my apartment and asked if I would tie their neckties. I helped them get ready. A few actually found vests which I though looked pretty snazzy...until their friends started laughing and shouting "waiter, waiter!" Apparently a vest is the common uniform of waiters and bartenders in the Philippines. In a cloud of cologne, we all went up together and it was fun watching them find the courage to ask a girl to dance and hear the whoops and hollers anytime someone would hit the lights.

They days following revealed the relationships that formed from those first dances. It brought on the type of drama I tried to avoid back in high school. I always wondered if teachers were aware of anything going on. If it's anything like here, the answer is yes! In fact, the teachers here seem to enjoy gossiping about relationships as much as the students.

The group of kids coming over to my house continued every week growing in number until a peak of around 20 who came over during my birthday. The boys grilled fish on the barbecue and my host mom made a HUGE batch of pancit (stir fried noodles). We also made a cake and served up punch, despite they constant requests that I bring out the Tanduay rum.

While school continues to feel like work, the relationships I've formed with these kids are the ones I know will last forever. It makes all the frustrations worth it witnessing even the smallest impressions take place. The truth is I look forward every week to them coming over whether it be for English games or jamming on the guitar. And I've learned just as much from the boys as they have learned from me. The good news is I've got plenty of pictures to remember these nights. Any time the camera is left out, the night quickly turns to a photo shoot and usually a flexing contest between the boys.

Game of the Generals: My favorite Filipino board game.

My guitar is probably the true reason they come over.

Homemade version of Bananagrams. By far the most popular English game among the students!

Gotta show off for the camera.

I can't always understand what's going on. Just play along and hope they don't kill each other.

As the bottle bricks continued to stack up, I started gathering the materials necessary to make some more benches. Purchasing cement took all of our available funds, so when it came to getting a hold of sand and gravel, we had to fetch our own. So, once again I accompanied a group of students to Tinpunan (remember the bamboo?). Thankfully this time we had a truck to haul the sand. But the students still had to carry sack fulls of wet sand from the river to the truck. Who needs a wheelbarrow anyway? We also collected some river stone to make a walking path in our school park. Our school campus is looking pretty darn good with our new benches!

Stacking river stones in the truck.

According to the students, they are used to carrying an average of 80-100 kilos per sack. That's 200 lbs!!!!!

We use soda bottles filled with non-biodegradable trash as bricks for our benches.

Our town fiesta came next. I went to watch our students perform int he folkdance competition. The day was cut short by rain. We celebrated however, glad to finally have water. It's been dry since December  I've been without running water, having to haul it from the neighbor's drum.

Our school was awarded 2nd place in the competition. While I waited stranded in a restaurant waiting for the rain to stop I got hungry. But nothing on the menu looked particularly delicious...even the hamburger lost its appeal.

The students waiting their turn to dance the Filipino Polka.

These people just love their canines.

Yesterday was graduation and I think I may have been more excited than the students for the end of school. This year the school bought western style gowns for the graduates and sewed on strips of native weaving to give it a local flair. The students made their own hats out of cardboard and paper.

The graduation started promptly at 8:30. It also included special recognition and awards for all of the underclassmen. At the conclusion of the ceremony I took around a hat (like last year) and asked for everyone's autograph. I planned on giving them each a U.S. dollar, but after searching for two days was unable to find even one at any of the banks.

In our community it is common for the families of the graduates prepare buckets of food and the friends and family go around from house to house eating and chatting and drinking native rice wine. Last year I accompanied the teachers and made it to two houses; this year I was invited with a group of students and we visited a grand total of 14 parties until well after dark. We spent time at each house talking with families and sampling all the food. 

Graduation Procession

Families and friends place lays and plastic flowers on the necks of graduates after the ceremony.

Collecting autographs.

Going around visiting the families of the graduates.

Siglat is alive and kickin'! He's the only trained dog around for miles and has become sort of a novelty among the students. Still trying to figure out what to do with him in September!

Siglat posing for a quick picture.

The Hats I Wear

No! Stop! Don’t get sick. You’re too busy to get sick! The thoughts flashing through my mind last night as I felt the on-comings of a sore throat and stuffy nose. Despite chugging water and taking some vitamin C, this morning yielded that “feel like crap” feeling. And though itching to get to the school and continue work, I decided to do myself a favor and stay home this morning. However, I suck at just sitting around doing nothing so I decided to write a blog and share with you what’s going on here in the Phils.

You may remember last year’s post around this time. February is the month of our school anniversary, village fiesta and Junior-Senior Prom…and more activities just keep piling on. But this time, I keep telling myself it’ll be the last chance I experience these things so better make the most of them. And although crazy hectic, I’m looking forward to the happenings in this month of love.

The nice thing about taking a break from formal teaching is that I can explore and try my hand at other things within the school. I began helping with “career guidance,” a term used for educating senior students about college and plans after high school graduation. I realized our students were pretty much clueless about the possibilities out there. And while college is becoming a very popular choice for high school graduates, many don’t think about it until the month of enrollment at which time they’ll most likely pick a college and major that their friends or older siblings took up.

I started collecting resources to share with our advisers and students. The mass of information turned into a book that we've bound and distributed to other schools. A teacher and I also made a game to help students map out a degree based on their likes and interests. Hopefully our students will become more interested in college, and use higher education as a means to pull themselves out of the poverty in our community. This weekend we are planning a field trip to take the seniors to visit some universities so they can tour the campuses and speak with advisers.

Because I’m no longer in the classroom, some students have requested meeting outside of school. This has lately turned into a sort of “Sir Matt Club”. Every week we cook dinner and play English games or play the guitar. While their artistic talents may be bland on paper, these kids sure can play the heck out of the guitar. The group has decided to translate some English songs into their local dialect and record a CD that can hopefully be sold (interested?). Learning the ins and outs of recording software is yet another skill I’m trying to master. By the end of this service I will be a professional music producer, teacher, dance instructor, guidance counselor, chef, computer programmer, film editor, journalist, event planner, curriculum developer, and training coordinator…all roles I've *expertly* performed on request from the teachers and students. So, tell all your friends and bosses that there is soon to be an ex-Peace Corps Volunteer in need of employment who can assume the capabilities of any professional (or at least pretend to).

Hope you’re all doing well at home! Counting down the last 7½ months till I get to see you all!

P.S. I thought I wrote a blog update for January. But since I didn’t here is a very short recall of Christmas: I ate a lot, relaxed a lot. Dry season means no running water, which means I left the faucet on in hopes that it would come, which means it did come when I was away in the capitol, which means my apartment flooded and my host mother is now assured that I am suffering from Alzheimer’s (wish I was kidding). Also, I introduced the gift-sharing game of White Elephant to the teachers and this was the result:

Wait until the kids see what games are in store for their Valentine's Day prom...

Rolling into Year TWO!

It seems like it's been a long time since I've posted, an maybe it has. But it's not because things have been slow! In fact the last couple of months have been filled with one activity after another. I guess that's become the norm though, and so sometimes things don't seem special enough to post a blog about, but I'll do my best to update you on what's been happening in my life!

Our Mid-Service Training took place in Manila. Besides the expected information to help us with our projects, it was a chance for volunteers to gather together and share stories. Above all, it served as a reminder that we are more than half way through with our service. For some, that thought came as panic-that time is going too fast and they realized just how fast the last few months will go. For others, you could see heads roll back in realization that another whole year is left and that time is going SLOOOOOW. 

For me, it's a mixture of both, and i find myself feeling both ways depending on the day. Some days I think there can't possibly be enough time left to accomplish what I want. But then other times I feel like time is dragging by at an agonizing rate and that I can't wait to go home.

After training, I returned to the school to find them right in the thicket of the Bottle Brick project I had left them with. Basically, like in many areas of the Philippines, there is no place for trash to go. People throw it down mountains or burn it. One creative solution that has been circulating is to compact non-biodegradable waste into plastic bottles. The bottles can then be used like concrete blocks to build walls, benches, houses...anything you want.

The teachers were so excited about this idea that they have been requiring students to make bottle bricks since the beginning of school. When I returned, we had a bottle brick "party" to fill up extra bottles and clean up the last bit of trash from the community. Then the students went to work on their first bottle brick project: a concrete bench that will be part of our newly planned Student Park. The bottle bricks aren't slowing though...students are still bringing them everyday to school, so I'll keep you updated on their projects!

Because of my workload, my supervisor and I agreed if I cut back on teaching to focus more on other projects such as applying for grants, creating instructional materials, and assisting other teachers. One of my last projects with my class was holding a class debate. I was worried about this because it is difficult for native English speakers, let alone students who are still struggling to learn English as a third or fourth language. However, seeing the excitement in the class, we decided to go all out. The seniors table skirted and decorated, the students arrived wearing their best clothes, and the speeches they gave were really good! I was really proud of those kiddos. Since then I've been working on games, a College  Guide book, planning a sports camp, and guest teaching in the cooking class.

Our Feast!

Now for possibly the most exciting bit action that happened recently. THANKSGIVING. Every year Peace Corps Volunteers gather in Sagada ( only about an hour and a half from me) for a huge reunion. Last year most of my batch couldn't go because we were still confined to our sites during our few first months of service. This year however, our batch dominated the feast. About thirty volunteers joined in, cooking, preparing, and planning the event. We had all the traditional courses, except for the turkey (can you believe they are PETS here? No one would sell us one to eat! They have no problem eating dogs tho...), and cranberry sauce. But we made due with chicken and had plenty of other dishes to choose from including potatoes, green beans, stuffing, apple and pecan pie, salads, quiche, macaroni and cheese and lots of wine and beer!

That's all for now. Christmas season is well underway (since September) and next up will be our Christmas party. Still no plans for the holidays, but I'm excited nonetheless!


And for those who have been requesting pictures of my dog...let me introduce you to Siglat!

Siglat (Indigenous name meaning "quick-witted")

The Data Games

It's been a while since I've posted. It's the middle of Typhoon Season here, and we've already had 3 days cancelled due to the bad weather! It was exciting at first, kind of like when you find out there is a snow day, but I quickly discovered there isn't much fun you can have outside in a torrential downpour with wind blowing the tin roofs off of houses.

Thankfully though, when it came time for our school's scheduled intramural games, the sun shone down like a blessing of good luck for our athletes. The kids chose their sport and were ushered off to different areas to play. The best will represent our school in the District Athletic Meet, with the best of those moving on to the Provincial Meet. I was disappointed I didn't get to watch a single minute of the Olympics this year, but the spirit of our little school on the mountain made up for that.

WHO NEEDS SHOES TO RUN A RACE? In a land of steep rugged cliffs, deep gorges and slippery slopes, the Sawdust is the only place in Mt. Data  that the kids can run freely. Secluded by the hills and mountains, the screams and echos of laughter will guide anyone who wants to join in.

The Games began with the Search for Mt. and Miss Fit. This was a continuation of our Nutrition Month celebrations that got postponed. Each school club had a representative in the pageant which lasted all afternoon. 






Constants had to model different apparel, show a talent, and answer a question from the judges. 

There were ELEVEN different awards, from "Best Smile" to "Miss Coca-Cola" (body shape).

Friday morning began with a simple opening ceremony. They athletes took an oath and said a prayer to guide them through the games. After the formalities, the fun officially started with the cheer-dance competition. Each grade had to present a dance with full participation of every student. I quickly got over my  nervous feeling watching 11 year olds make three-tier pyramids on concrete, and sat back and enjoyed with the rest of the onlookers.

2nd Year

4th Year

3rd Year

"Grade 7"

Once the dancing was over (7th Grade won), the athletes all drained away to their various venues. Table-Tenis went to the 2nd year room, Chess players when to the 3rd year room. Badminton players headed up to the recreation hall, while the track participants climbed up the steep path to the Sawdust. Sepaktakraw players headed to the lower building and tennis players ran up to the elementary school. That left the rest of the students eagerly waiting for the most popular event and main attraction: Volleyball.

The favorite national sport of the Philippines, basketball, was removed from the district as a lost cause by teachers years ago. Despite the students passion for the sport, money just wasn't willing to be spent on a sport that the students couldn't advance in. As sad as that is, our students quickly found another sport to love. Attention turned to volleyball, with boys volleyball in particular raising the most spirit at our school.





Everyone waits for the upperclassmen to play. 3rd and 4th year boys attract the most spectators.

Of course, the fans stick around to see which of the girls will be most likely to represent our school at the Provincial Meet.

The younger classmen also take their turn to play. Although few of them advance, they hope one day to become a provincial athlete.

One of my favorite sports to watch is Sepaktakraw. It was hard for me to get good pictures so I encourage you to google it. The object is to get a small ball over a net that is a little smaller than the one used in badminton. There are three players to a team and once the ball is in play, a player may not use his hands or arms. While the game can be a little slow moving at times, it's incredible how they can use their feet to "spike" the ball over the net.

I enjoyed the days taking pictures and watching all of the athletes. I became DJ when students requested I bring out my laptop and play music over the loud speakers. They began requesting songs, and I soon had a huge pile of song requests and dedications written on every shred of scrap piece of paper that could be found. I assumed that only athletes would come on Saturday to play, but as it turned out, most of the students came to cheer on their classmates.